I actually use a method that while involved, works for me. First, I use MS Streets and trips to lay out the route. This allows for more detailed timing of the routing. Basically I put in the start address and the end address and let it do it's thing. I tell it that I want a 10 minute break every hour. That gives me the outline for the number of days. I then start to break it down into days and alternatively add stops I want to make such as National parks and estimated time off the bike. This is an iterative process to get the general timing of the route each day and of course, the required HD Stops. Once I am comfortable with the route, I start to use mapsource.
I start by creating waypoints for all the stops I generated in Streets & Trips, put them in their own Category (Trip Planning) including any HD shops that I already had downloaded the entire waypoint file from the POI collections. Then I begin a single route for the trip incorporating all the waypoints. I then compare this route with the one in Streets 7 trips and alternate tweaking each route.
Once this step is 75% complete, I breakdown the single Mapsource Route into individual days by duplicating, renaming and removing unnecessary waypoints from each day. This allows for better day by day use. before downloading to the GPS, I delete all unused waypoints leaving only those in Trip Planning. I also make sure that the day routes are named such that they are in order and have the actual day of travel in the title.
A couple of important notes regarding your planning.
ZOOM IN to each waypoint you made by clicking on the map or dragging the route. it is very possible that you put it on the wrong side of the road...eastbound I-90 when you were travelling westbound. Also be aware of one-way roads. If you use the FIND menu to create the waypoint from a POI such as a hotel or gas station, this is not necessary.
Sometimes, the algorithm is just messed up. A few years ago, you could not plan to cross the Bear Mountain Bridge in NY...it did not know it existed...it would route you 30 miles up and around I-84. Another one in your area is the Natchez Trace Parkway through Jackson, MS...it just doesn't exist! It ends north of town at I-55 and picks up again at I-20.
I add avoid areas...like Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge. This helps direct the route in the direction I want.
Always use common sense...sometimes there may be a reason the routing program takes you a roundabout way, such as when you have it set to avoid unpaved roads.
Lastly, I like to use waypoints as opposed to simple via points. I use the term via points to mean those marks created by simply dragging the route to force it up another road. By doing this, you can always ad-lib to one of your waypoints.
/Bill
This is not limited to Zumo...since we're all probably using the same mapping software (V8 Mapsource), I'd like to throw out a general use question: How do you plan an extended trip on your software to transfer to the unit?
Here's what I did last night...used the routing tool and marked my route with waypoints on key segments of the roads I want to travel. I found you have to be careful doing this, as the routing tool will take you ways you don't really want to go if you don't mark points close enough to each other, particularly on certain roads. I then used these points to "plan a route". When the directions are given for that route, it does some funky things during the route, or at least it's saying it is.
Is there a better/easier way to do this? I have a 2820, but that's really irrelevant if you do the routing on the PC then transfer the route.
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Topic: Zumo "extras" (Read 7428 times)